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Toni Vaughn believes her lifetime in Alabama and decades in the corporate world have given all the tools she needs to serve her community in the halls of the Alabama Legislature. “I know personality, I know personnel and I know money,” she said. Vaughn, a retired insurance executive from Highland Lakes in Shelby County, is taking on a new challenge as she enters the race for State House District 45 in the Nov. 3, 2026 election. Both Democratic and Republican party primaries are May 19. Vaughn is challenging incumbent Republican Susan Dubose in the heavily Republican district that includes parts of North Shelby County, Jefferson County, and a portion of St. Clair County. Vaughn said she is undeterred as she enters a race where at first glimpse, she faces tough odds in what appears a solidly red area. Vaughn said the time is right as voters look beyond party and seek a candidate who addresses issues that directly impact them. “Somebody has to speak to the needs of the people, not the culture wars, but the needs of the people of Alabama,” Vaughn said. “And nobody’s speaking.” Vaughn listed healthcare accessibility, living wages and education as essential issues that affect everyone and galvanize the public regardless of party. “But people don’t vote because they don’t believe there’s anybody who wants to tell their story and fight for them,” she said. “Somebody’s got to be willing to speak up and speak for the people and not special interest groups.” Vaughn boasts of being a seventh-generation Alabamian. She was born in Coffeeville in rural Clarke County and raised in Centerville in Bibb County. Vaughn said she learned lessons early on about doing what was right, even when it was not widely popular. Her father was a teacher and later principal in Bibb County during the era of integration. He complied and encouraged interaction among black and white students. As a result, a cross burned in their yard, she remembered. Those lessons have remained with her, she said. When it comes to leaders in Montgomery, Vaughn said rhetoric is high but actual results are few. “I don’t see them doing anything in the legislature,” she said. “They are not doing things to enhance the day-to-day lives of the people of Alabama.” Vaughn said the inequity in the district is clear. While North Shelby County is known for its strong, well-resourced schools, the same support is not shown in other more rural areas. For example, she said millions of dollars from Alabama continue to support programs in neighboring states because of the prohibition against a lottery. “I’m a product of Alabama public schools and I believe in public schools,” she said. Like her father, Vaughn also had early goal of teaching when she entered the University of Alabama. But she soon discovered her real passion – finance. She quipped that her father did not know she had changed her major to business until she was a senior. Vaughn then entered a field where she was a rarity as a woman moving up in business and into management. She retired as a regional vice president of the southeast region of her company. “I’ve always marched to the beat of my own drummer,” she said with a laugh. Vaughn said a focus on healthcare is her major priority. Medical care in some parts of the state is worse than it was when she was born in a three-room clinic in Coffeeville in 1954, Vaughn said. Today the clinic is long gone in Clarke County and maternal care is about 100 miles away, Vaghn said. She recently took to social media to illustrate her point. “Astonishing that women had better access to healthcare in the 1950s than today, isn’t it?” Vaughn wrote on her Facebook page. “But this is true all over Alabama and Alabama ranks at or near the bottom in infant and maternal care and at or near the top in infant and maternal death rate.” Vaughn said the status of healthcare inequity and inaccessibility is a result of misplaced priorities of state leaders. “This is unacceptable to me, but apparently ok to our super majority state legislators who would rather spend time deciding what books we read, who we can love, and other things that do not better the lives of Alabama citizens,” she wrote. “I promise to make healthcare a priority when I am elected to represent HD 45 in the Alabama legislature.” Vaughn, 71, paused when asked why she is making her first run for office and trying to break the GOP political stronghold in her district. “Because somebody has to speak out and stand up,” she said. “I’m a fighter and I’m at a point in my life where there’s still some fight left in me.”
